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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Posted on March 26, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Robert Frost (1874). Born in San Francisco, he moved to Massachusetts when he was 11. He struggled a long time to become a successful poet. His style was out of fashion almost from the beginning — he was interested in the traditional forms of rhyme and meter, while his contemporaries such as Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and T. S. Eliot were writing in modern free verse.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, March 25, 2024

Posted on March 25, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Kate DiCamillo, born in Philadelphia (1964). She spent most of her childhood in Florida, but after college she moved to Minnesota. That first winter in Minnesota was one of the coldest on record, and DiCamillo missed her hometown in Florida horribly. She also desperately wanted a dog, but couldn’t have one because her apartment building didn’t allow dogs.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, March 24, 2024

Posted on March 24, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1955 that Tennessee Williams’ play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof premiered in New York City at the Morosco Theatre. It was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Barbara Bel Geddes, Ben Gazzara, and Burl Ives. Tennessee Williams won a second Pulitzer Prize for the play, and a Tony Award, and the show ran for 694 performances. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was Williams’ favorite play, but he despised the film version of it, with Elizabeth Taylor.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, March 23, 2024

Posted on March 23, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1775 that Patrick Henry gave a famous speech which probably included the line, “Give me liberty or give me death!” Henry spoke at the Second Virginia Convention, a meeting of American colonial leaders held at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. There were 120 delegates, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, March 22, 2024

Posted on March 22, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the poet Billy Collins, born in New York City (1941). He wrote his first poem at the age of seven when he was driving with his parents and looked out the river and saw a sailboat on the East River.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, March 21, 2024

Posted on March 21, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of poet Nizar Qabbani, born in Damascus, Syria (1923). His mother, who was illiterate, sold her jewelry to raise money to publish his first anthology, Childhood of a Bosom (1948), and he went on to become the most popular Arab poet and to publish more than 20 books of poetry. Much of his poetry was influenced by the tragic deaths of two women he loved.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Posted on March 20, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of dime novelist Ned Buntline, born Edward Zane Carroll Judson in Stamford, New York (1813) — probably, but not certainly, on this day. As a boy, he got in a fight with his father and ran away to sea. He started out as a cabin boy, but as a teenager he rescued the drowning crew of a boat, and President Van Buren was so impressed that he appointed the young man a midshipman, a low rank of officer.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Posted on March 19, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Russian writer Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, born in Great Sorochintsy, Ukraine in 1809 (March 31st according to the Old Calendar). His mother was extremely devout, and his father was a bureaucrat who owned a vodka distillery on 3,000 acres and had more than 300 serfs working for him.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, March 18, 2024

Posted on March 18, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist John Updike, born in Reading, Pennsylvania (1932). He went to Harvard and got married while he was still a student. His ambition was to be published in The New Yorker, and the year that he graduated from Harvard, he sold the magazine a poem and a short story.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, March 17, 2024

Posted on March 17, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, a day to celebrate all things Irish. The famous American director John Ford was of Irish heritage, and he also perpetuated Irish stereotypes in his films. He directed The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and American Westerns like Stagecoach (1939) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Most of his films featured Irish or Irish-American characters, and his film The Quiet Man (1952) was set in Ireland.

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